Bush Wins Golden Duke For Best Scandal

The First Annual Golden Duke Award for Best Scandal goes to President George W. Bush, for his role in leading the politicization of the federal government during his presidency.

Perhaps best exemplified by the U.S. Attorneys purge (which took place in 2006 but was not uncovered until 2007), the Bush-led effort to turn the federal government into an arm of the Republican Party had been underway for years but the true scope of his deliberate undermining of the rule of law was not fully realized or appreciated until 2007.

Golden Duke judge John Dean, who knows a thing or two about corruption, was one of the four (out of five) judges who selected Bush for the preeminent Dukey:

Bush's politics have done for good government what war does for peace, what famine does for hunger, what Alzheimer's does for memory, what Lee Harvey Oswald did for Dallas – you get the idea. This president has done more to damage our system of government, and weaken us around the world, than any of his predecessors. Bush is America's worst president ever, only equaled by the abetting of his partner, Dick Cheney.

Or as fellow judge Rick Hertzberg put it:

It would be a shame to allow his presidency to expire without presenting him with a cheesy statue of Randy “Duke” Cunningham . . . although there may be some good ones in his ex-Presidency.

Notified in advance of the President's win, the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) took time from his busy presidential campaign schedule to note the occasion. From his communications director, Hari Sevugan:

“The real travesty is that he wasn’t nominated for a lifetime achievement award. But I’m sure this will look nice in the trophy case next to the “Mission Accomplished” banner and Brownies’ Arabian horse show ribbons.”

The Dodd camp's sentiment was shared by blogger and netroots gadfly Markos "Kos" Moulitsas:

"I feel bad for all those scandal-plagued Republicans who never had a shot at winning given Bush's existence. He really had no peer, and deserves nothing less of a 'lifetime achievement award' for his efforts to enable every one of the GOP's most corrupt."

In honor of his (under)achievement, President Bush will be entitled to receive the coveted Golden Duke statuette, at such time as the actual figurine is sculpted, casted, paid for and delivered, which may or may not be accomplished before the end of his presidency.